President George W. Bush yesterday offered a courteous, carefully-worded statement of concern to Vladimir Putin about the state of Russian democracy, only to be met by a deft defence by the Russian president of his style of democratic leadership.

At the end of a four-day trip to Europe where Mr Bush has repeatedly sought to emphasise agreement rather than differences, the two men reaffirmed their shared commitment to an extensive agenda of co-operation even as they treaded awkwardly around each other on democracy.